Profile

Biography

Tony Myatt is the Director of the Music Research Centre.  His research and teaching are based in four areas: contemporary aesthetics in electronic and computer music; spatial sound reproduction; the composition and performance of computer music, and contemporary audio art.

Tony works closely with a number of independent electronic music artists to realise audio, installation and art works.  He is the principle investigator of the Art and Humanities Research Council's (UK) New Aesthetics in Computer Music Project, which documents and investigates changing practices, philosophies and aesthetics in independent electronic music since 1995.

Myatt's 1995 Computer Music Journal article Three dimensional sound spatialisation using ambisonic techniques (with Dave Malham) has been cited as a significant factor in the resurgence of interest in Ambisonics for computer music.  He has a long standing research interest in spatial sound which has continued to embrace both technologies, composition and production methods which appeal to human spatial perception, derived from perceptual and neuroscience research.  This work has recently been developed into practical implementations for T-B A21's The Morning Line project.  Tony has now worked closely with 25 composers to realise their work on the Morning Line sound system, which was exhibited at the Seville Biennale of Contemporary Art in 2008, the Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo in Seville 2009, the Istanbul European City of Culture 2010, and in Schwarzenbergplatz, Vienna, Austria 2011.  Artists commissioned to create works for The Morning Line have included  Florian Hecker (De), Chris Watson(UK), Bruce Gilbert (UK), Lee Ranaldo(US), Bryce Dessner(US), Evan Ziporyn(US), Roc Jimenez de Cisneros (Es), Mark Fell (UK),  Jana Winderen (NO), Peter Zinovieff (UK), Carl Michael von Hausswolff (SE), Yasunao Tone(JP/US), Erdem Helvacıoğlu(TR), Cevdet Erek(TR), Batuhan Bozkurt(TR), and Mehmet Can Özer(TR),  Alexej Borisov (Russia), Franz Pomassl (AT), Tommi Grönlund & Petteri Nisunen (Finland), Christian Fennesz (AT), Carsten Nicolai (De), Zsolt Olejnik (Hu), Finnbogi Petursson (Iceland), Terre Thaemlitz (USA), Zavoloka (Ukraine).

Tony was a co-founder of Cambridge University Press’ academic journal Organised Sound; an international journal of music and technology in 1995 and an editor of the journal until 2004.  He is now a member of the journal’s editorial board. He coordinated and led a team from the EPSRC’s Digital Music Research Network who formulated the UK Roadmap for Digital Music Research in 2005. 

Tony has delivered invited lectures, talks, symposia, performances and installations throughout the world.

Research funders have included the European Commission, AHRC (UK), EPSRC (UK) research councils, Silicon Graphics Inc., BT, Arts and Business Yorkshire, the Arts Council (UK) and Thyssen-Bornemizsa Art Contemporary (AU).

Tony led the project to finance, design and construct the £2.5M Music Research Centre at the University of York which opened in 2004.

Tony was awarded a Herald Angel Award by the Glasgow Herald at the 1997 Edinburgh Festival and the International Critics Award, with kinetic sculptor Peter Fluck, for Chaotic Constructions an interactive kinetic sculpture/audio installation.  This piece was originally created for the Tate Gallery, St Ives UK where it was installed in 1997.  His computer work after via gleam was a finalist in the 2007 WPA/Cocoran Gallery’s colorfield.remix experimental media competition.  In June 2007 Tony was resident composer at Hochschule für Gestaltung in Karlsruhe, Germany, where he developed a live performance work for a forty-three channel, multi layer sound system. This piece also used surround sound techniques informed by research in spatial audio perception.

In 2009 he designed and developed software to control a large-scale Ambisonic with-height surround sound system as part of the LISTEN artist residency and performances at the Britten Studios, Aldeburgh, UK, curated by Russell Haswell. Tony was a resident artists at Aldeburgh along with Russell Haswell, Chris Watson and Bernie Krause.

Tony also acts as a consultant to a number of international contemporary art organisations, and is a reviewer for research funding organisations and international conferences.

Departmental roles

• Director of the Music Research Centre
• Principle Investigator for the New Aesthetics in Computer Music (AHRC) research project
• Course Leader: MA, Diploma and Certificate in Music Technology
• Committees: Department Finance Committee, Departmental Research Committee, mrc research seminar series (coordinator), Department Ethics Committee, Roslyn Lyons Art Group, Music Board of Studies, Music Technology Examinations Officer
• Trustee of the Heslington Foundation for Music and Associated Arts

Research

Overview

Research areas:

• Contemporary aesthetics in computer music
• Perception of spatial sound 
• Composition and presentation of electronic and computer music
• Audio art

Current projects

The Morning Line, T-B A21

Grants

• AHRC Contemporary practice in digital, post-digital and electronica
  (New Aesthetics in Computer Music). £297,000, 2007.
• Heslington Foundation for Music and Associated Arts
  awards and benefactions towards the Music Research Centre building. £500,000, 2004
• BT – Music On-line project
  funded by BT, Arts and Business, Science City York. £13,000, 2003.
• European Commission IST project under the 5th Framework
  IST-1999-21022 RIMM. Real-time Interactive Multiple Media performance. €106,000, 1999-2000.
• HEFCE/EPSRC Joint Research Equipment Initiative
  in collaboration with Silicon Graphics Ltd. £996,000, 1998.

Supervision

PhD Students:

Angie Atmadjaja, Composition Folio Ph.D.

Mark Fell, Composition Folio Ph.D. 

Thom Blake, Thesis, Ph.D. 

Peter Worth, Thesis Ph.D. 

Theo Burt, Composition Folio Ph.D.

Tim Wright, Composition Folio Ph.D.

Pouya Ehsaei, Composition Folio Ph.D.

Marinos Koutsomichalis, Composition Folio Ph.D. 

Adam Collis, Thesis Ph.D.

Publications

Selected publications

Myatt, A. and Lennox, P. 2011. Perceptual cartoonification in multi-spatial sound systems, Proc. 17th International Conference on Auditory Display, Budapest, Hungary .

Myatt, A. and Malham, D.G. 2010. Audio Spatialization for The Morning Line, Proc of the 128th Convention of the Audio Engineering Society, London, UK. (Also be featured as an AES Tutorial Paper on the Audio Engineering Society web site.)

Myatt, A. et al 2010. Yasunao Tone and MP3 Disruption, Proceedings of the International Conference on Computer Music, ICMA, New York, US.

Lennox, P., Myatt, T. & Scavone, G. (ed.) 2007 Concepts of perceptual significance for composition and reproduction of explorable surround sound fields, Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Auditory Display. p. 208-212.

Myatt, A. and Malham DG. 1995, Three Dimensional Sound Spatialisation Using Ambisonic Techniques, Computer Music Journal, Vol.19 No.4, MIT Press, Cambridge MA, USA, pp58-70.

Myatt, A. 2002. Strategies for interaction in Construction 3, Organised Sound: Vol. 7, no. 2. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 157-169.

Myatt, A. Lennox, P. and Vaughan, J. 1999. From Surround Sound to True 3D, Proceedings of Audio Engineering Society 16th International Conference, AES, Rovanearme, Finland.

Myatt, A., Lennox, P., Vaughan, J. 2001. 3-D Audio as an Information- Environment, AES 19th International Conference on Surround Sound, Schloss Elmau, Germany.

Compositions

Selected works:

Roundabout, 2009. Co-created with Russell Haswell. Ambisonic, with-height audio artwork.

G, no B, (15 mins) 2006, electronic composition for live interactive algorithm and FM synthesis, premiere Rymer Auditorium, York 2006.

Lizard Solitude, (30 mins) 2005, sound installation to accompany the paintings of Barrie Cook, Royal Truro Galleries. Truro, Cornwall, April 2005. Also Worcester City Art Gallery 3/9/5.

L’infinitá, for computer generated electronic tape (15mins)(1999)

Chaotic Constructions (1997), installation for kinetic sculpture and computer generated soundtracks (with Peter Fluck), Tate St Ives.

Chaotic Constructions 2 (1999), for computer and kinetic sculpture (with Peter Fluck), exhibited at mobiles@RIBA exhibition, Royal Institute of British Architects, London, 16th Feb - 16th April 1999, and Kube Gallery Poole, UK.

Construction 3 (2001), for saxophone, computer and sculptural forms (with Peter Fluck), commissioned by the European Commission, IST programme under Framework 5, premiered Curt Sachs Saal, Berlin on the 9th December 2001

Other practice based research:

The Morning Line, exhibition 2 October 2008 – 24 January 2010, Seville Biennial of Contemporary Art 2008, Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo, Seville, Spain. With Florian Hecker (De), Chris Watson(UK), Bruce Gilbert (UK), Lee Ranaldo(US), Bryce Dessner(US), Evan Ziporyn(US), Roc Jimenez de Cisneros (Es) and Mark Fell (UK), Matthew Ritchie(US).

The Morning Line, exhibition  22 May – 22 November 2010, Eminönü Square, as part of the European Capital of Culture 2010 Istanbul. Turkey. With artists Jana Winderen (NO), Peter Zinovieff (UK), Carl Michael von Hausswolff (SE), Yasunao Tone(JP/US), Erdem Helvacıoğlu(TR), Cevdet Erek(TR), Batuhan Bozkurt(TR), and Mehmet Can Özer(TR). 

The Morning Line, exhibition 7 June - 20 November 2011Schwarzenbergplatz, Vienna, Austria.With artists Frantz Pomassl (AT), Alexej Borisov (Russia), Tommi Grönlund & Petteri Nisunen (Finland), Christian Fennesz (Austria), Carsten Nicolai (Germany), Zsolt Olejnik (Hungary), Finnbogi Petursson (Iceland), Terre Thaemlitz (USA), Zavoloka (Ukraine). 

Teaching

Postgraduate

MA, Diploma and Certificate in Music Technology

• Aesthetics 1 module, New aesthetics in electronic and computer music, practice and approaches.
• Composition Special Interest Group module
• Independent Study Module support group supervisor
• Independent Study Module supervisor
  

Ph.D. supervisor, in:

External activities

Editorial duties

Editorial Board, Organised Sound: an International Journal of Music Technology, CUP, UK.

1995 - 2004 Founding Co-Editor of Organised Sound: An International Journal of Music Technology Cambridge University Press, The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge, CB2 2RU.

Invited talks and conferences

Selected external activities, lectures and symposia:

The Living Archive: Dardanella project, given to Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dardanella, Boston, USA, 23rd Oct. 2011.

Neuroscience, ecology and other music production techniques, given to Arts, Culture and Technology faculty, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dardanella, Boston, USA. 2011 23rd Oct.

A laboratory for new ideas: The project space seminar, Lopud Seminar 2011, Black Swans: Producing the improbable, Croatia. 8 October 2011, with Skylar Tibbits (MIT), Alisa Andrasek (Columbia University, US), Bruce Ferguson (University of Cairo), 2011. http://www.tba21.org/program/seminars/118?category=seminars

Chair,  Mediatic production and dissemination of A Living Archive  symposia, Lopud Seminar 2011,  Black Swans: Producing the improbable , Croatia. 8 October 2011. With Adrian Lahoud (University of Syndey), Markus Reymann (Vienna), Petteri Nisunen (FI) and Marko Peljhan (UCSB, US), Adam Bly (Seed Inc., US), 2011. http://www.tba21.org/program/seminars/118?category=seminars

In conversation with with Yasunao Tone , public interview/discussion, Stadtkino Vienna, Schwarzenbergplatz, 8 June 2011. http://vimeo.com/26347368 

Chair, Space Calculated in Seconds - Sound Architectures symposia, Between Architecture, science and sound symposium, Vienna, with Daniela Zyman (AT), Russell Haswell (UK), Florian Hecker (De), Zsolt Olejnik (HU), 2011.

Chair, New creative processes in technology-enabled environments symposia, The promiscuity of Collaboration. Istanbul, with Matthew Ritchie (US), Francesca von Habsburg (CH), Russell Haswell (UK), Lee Ranaldo (US), Peter Zinovieff (UK), Mehmet Can Özer (TR), 2010. http://www.tba21.org/program/seminars/88?category=seminars

UK Roadmap for Digital Music, presentation, Queen Mary’s College, University of London, EPSRC Digital Music Network. 21/12/2005

Music in a digital age, S2S^2 Summer School Keynote lecture, Genoa, Italy, 6th Framework Programme IST Open Coordination Action Project, European Commission. 25 July 2005.

Chair, Digital Space, public interviews with Kim Cascone and Terre Thaemlitz, Lovebytes 2000, Showroom Cinema, Sheffield, 2000. http://www.lovebytes.org.uk/00/ 

Media coverage

Radio interview with Susanna Niedermayr, Zeit-Ton, OE1, ORF, Austria, broadcast 8 June 2011.

Programming Max/MSP for the Morning Line  , Cycling 74 feature interview, published online, 2011. http://cycling74.com/2011/06/22/the-morning-line-part-1/ (in two parts) 

Radio 3 The Greening Of The Machine, broadcast Jan 1991.

Chaotic Constructions, broadcasts: 

Performances

Selected performances and installations:

LISTEN  composer residency, Snape Maltings, Aldeburgh, with Chris Watson, Bernie Krauser and Russell Haswell, curated by Russell Haswell, commissioned by the Snape Maltings, Aldeburgh supported by the Paul Hamlin Trust and Loudwater Investment Partner Ltd. November 2009.

untitled 3, live performance for nested sound systems (41 channels) (30 mins), premiere HFG, Karlsruhe, June 2007.

Chaotic Constructions , for computer and kinetic sculpture, (installation) (1997), exhibited: 

The Tate Gallery (25 Jan. - 25 April 1997), St. Ives; 

Dean Clough Galleries (5 July - 9 August 1997),  Halifax; 

The Demarco European Art Foundation, The Edinburgh Festival (10 August - 30 August 1997); 

The Hot Bath Gallery (2 Sept. - 30 Sept. 1997), Bath; 

Le Festival du Vent (9 Sept. - 19 Sept. 1997), Calvi, Corsica;  

Shock Waves Festival (20 March 1998-28 March 1998), Portsmouth.